"Cough, cough, cough... No wonder they call him the Dragon Slayer."
Tutesi peeled off the blood-soaked bandage and wound a fresh layer back around herself.
That night, she had barely managed to keep her life.
She studied the vicious wound running from her left shoulder down to her lower belly, crudely stitched shut.
Two strange flushes of red bloomed on her pale face.
"So strong~ What an unforgettable night~ I'd love to have another go~"
If Rolwen hadn't been in such a rush that day to go find that useless vice-captain of his — if the man had bothered to check the "corpse" and put in one more finishing strike — Tutesi wouldn't have lived to see the next day's sun.
Both ring blades at her waist had been broken down to half-rings.
Tutesi unfastened one and used it to cut through a white bandage.
A rustle suddenly stirred in the grass nearby.
Like a wounded beast, Tutesi narrowed her eyes and gripped her ring blade.
"Oh — where am I?"
A thin, frail-looking young man crawled out of the brush. He wore a plain white monk's robe, a Scripture tucked into the belt at his waist.
The moment he saw Tutesi — weapon in hand, her bandage-wrapped bare torso in plain view —
the monk quickly clapped a hand over his eyes and stammered out an apology. "Ah — sorry, I didn't mean to. I never imagined anyone else would be out here."
"Quite the gentleman~"
Her expression flipped in an instant, that alluring smile sliding back onto her face as she slowly draped on the coat she'd set aside earlier.
"Where's the little monk headed? I could show you the way~"
As a Demon Hunter and part-time assassin who'd roamed every corner of the Central Lands and the Northern territories, Tutesi was practically a living map.
"Um... I'm a novice monk of the Church of the New God. I'm on my way to the church's headquarters in the Central Lands, to receive the New God's baptism."
"Oh?"
Tutesi had already heard that some unnamed New God had caused a rift within the Goddess's Order.
The young monk seemed utterly unguarded — he pulled a map straight out of his robes and held it out to the strange woman before him.
"This is a map I bought. For some reason, no matter how I follow it, I can never find the way."
Tutesi studied it for a moment, then tossed it into the air. Her two broken ring blades flashed, and the map fluttered down in shreds.
"This map's over ten years old. It should've been thrown out long ago."
"What? I got cheated by some crooked merchant?! By the New God — merchants like that deserve divine punishment!"
The monk hung his head, dejected.
Tutesi suddenly found the boy rather entertaining. She'd met plenty of strong types; having a weak one around gave her the feeling of a cat toying with a mouse.
Three days later, at the headquarters of the Church of the New God.
Split off from the Goddess's Order of the Southern Lands, the Church of the New God was based in an independent territory within the Central Lands.
The land there had once been barren, its mountains and rivers withered dry — but under the care of the Church, which claimed to serve the New God and prayed for divine Miracles, it had slowly grown prosperous.
Soil that had once "died" bloomed with life again; springs gushing up from underground refilled lakes that had long since dried out. Calling it a Miracle wouldn't be an exaggeration.
What made the Church of the New God most famous, though, was its Order of Heretic Inquisition Knights. Rumor held that the clergy within its ranks were a match for the elite knights of the Northern Empire — that they'd once clashed with the army of the King of War and, despite being hopelessly outnumbered, had still come out victorious.
Tutesi had long wanted a chance for a "friendly bout" — a duel to the death — with a warrior from the Order of Heretic Inquisition Knights.
"Um, Miss Tutesi — would you like to look around our church?"
"Sure~ But can an ordinary person like me just wander into such a sacred place?"
Tutesi gazed up at the tall, elegant white columns fronting the church, and the row of beautifully carved doors.
"No trouble at all. The Church of the New God welcomes anyone who wishes to learn of the New God."
With that, the monk led her eagerly inside.
"In a bit I'll receive baptism before the divine statue and pray. You're welcome to sit on the bench nearby and pray along, miss. Please believe in the New God, our one true god — He hears the prayers of all the faithful!"
Tutesi couldn't shake the sense that the monk turned strangely fervent whenever he mentioned the New God. Still, she smiled and nodded along.
Stepping into the main hall, the first things to catch her eye were the classic five-colored stained glass and a massive cross-shaped statue.
The Goddess's Order always gave its divine statues a concrete feminine form, though the details varied by region. Here, though, the New God's statue was nothing but a bare cross.
For some reason, Tutesi kept feeling something was missing from that cross.
By then the monk had knelt before it, a blank Scripture spread open on the floor, eyes shut in silent prayer.
Time ticked by. Aside from the priest standing beside the statue, one hand resting on the monk's shoulder, murmuring under his breath, the whole church sat hushed and solemn.
Tutesi watched the kneeling monk — and just as her attention began to drift,
the Scripture spread open on the floor suddenly blazed with dazzling golden light.
Then the monk's voice rang out, electric with excitement. "I see it! I see it! There's so much—"
The priest beside him coughed twice in warning, and only then did the monk rein in his excitement, cradling the Scripture as he settled into his final prayer.
Tutesi squinted against the searing gold light, her opinion of this sudden Miracle climbing a notch.
Did the New God truly exist? Or was this all just an elaborate con?
Tutesi knew no magic and had little familiarity with Holy Power, but a warrior's instinct told her that the instant the golden light appeared, the atmosphere of the entire church had shifted — sacred, and powerful.
On the way back, it occurred to her that the one who'd baptized the monk hadn't been the Grand Bishop, but a priest of only slightly higher rank.
"Isn't your bishop here?"
"The Grand Bishop received an oracle through the Scripture. He set out for the place it pointed to some time ago."
"What a shame. I heard he was once the Church of the New God's own Child-of-God, and drew away no small number of the Goddess's Order's members single-handedly."
"That was enlightenment, not poaching. Everyone who joined did so of their own will, after witnessing the Miracles the New God revealed."
The monk spoke with real conviction.
Just as they were about to leave the church, Tutesi's whole body went rigid before she even had time to react.
A tall monk cradling a Scripture brushed past her.
It felt like being struck by lightning — Tutesi very nearly drew her weapon to defend herself.
But the man simply walked straight past, kneeling before the cross-shaped statue to pray, utterly devout.
"What's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?"
"No, it's nothing. I just mistook him for someone else."
That presence... Tutesi didn't dare look back. There had been something not quite right about the monk who'd just passed.
"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, darkness upon the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters..."
The chanted recitation drifting up from behind seemed to stir something in the monk beside her.
As if showing off a prized possession, he turned to Tutesi with a smile. "That monk over there is quite devout. He's reciting the Genesis Chapter."
"The Genesis Chapter?"
____
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